


The Tale of the Lunar Moth

by Adenil



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, TOS Spones Challenge, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 12:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10742085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adenil/pseuds/Adenil
Summary: There are many stories regarding the loss of Vulcan’s moon. If you ask the mountain men they will tell you it was eaten by the starving Sehlat, brother of the stars. If you ask the river people they will tell you it floated down, down and became the Aegean Sea. If you ask the men who build great buildings and think themselves scientists, they will tell you that our moon was torn asunder by the great twin forces of Vulcan and Vega. They will all claim their story is the one true correct one.And they will all be wrong.With art byIntuitivelyFortuitous





	1. Footnotes

**Author's Note:**

> For the [ TOS Spones Challenge! ](http://tossponeschallenge.tumblr.com/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Note: this is a story with footnotes! If you prefer to read the no-footnote version first, simply go to chapter two (but I do recommend you come back and see how silly the translator is).

The Tale of the Lunar Moth [1]

 

  
_There are many stories regarding the loss of Vulcan’s moon. If you ask the mountain men they will tell you it was eaten by the starving Sehlat, brother of the stars. If you ask the river people they will tell you it floated down, down and became the Aegean Sea. If you ask the men who build great buildings and think themselves scientists, they will tell you that our moon was torn asunder by the great twin forces of Vulcan and Vega. They will all claim their story is the one true correct one._

_And they will all be wrong.  
_

_I can see already you are doubtful. If so many stories exist, how can mine be known to be true? Carry with me until the end, and you will wish to believe as well. Now sit, and find peace, and listen to my words._

*

The story begins not with the moon-thief, nor even on Vulcan. It begins with a traveler from a distant star.

She was a woman with wings so clear and gossamer that the stars were clearly visible behind them. On her world people feared her wings and were cruel to her for some time, and so she turned her pale face to the sky and took flight, rose higher and higher until she could glide among the stars. But she went unprepared. The stars cut her wings to ribbons and crashed her upon our world. Starving and injured, she lighted upon the flower of the _yar-savas_ and drank its sweet nectar and then, despondent, she lay down to die.

As she lay dying, a mountain man came down. He walked the same path each day and found no fault in it, save for this day when he came across the dying woman. At first, he did not even recognize her as a fellow person. She was frail and small and her long wings confused him, and her ears were wrong and rounded. But he saw a creature in pain and went to aid her.

He lifted her head and attempted to give her water, but she would not take it. He carried her up the mountain and to his home, finding her to weigh almost nothing in his strong arms. Still she would not drink, and when he pressed her she began to cry. Because she had, in her desperation, drunk the nectar of the flower she was now bound to this world. Despite her sorrow the man found her kind and intelligent, and he swore to protect her for as long as he was able.

He nursed her to health and she ate nothing of our world again, but the damage had been done. Upon accepting her fate, and finding the man agreeable and unselfish, she decided to begot him a son. They each reached into the other and removed half of their soul, combining this to create a boy.

They named him Spock.

The woman had grown weak and thin, and died when the child was young. The man grew cold and distant soon after, and no longer was agreeable. He became selfish. Spock, finding this painful, left in search of his life. He brought with him the green blanket his mother had sewn for him as a baby, a bit of bread, an instrument his father had made him as a boy, and the fruit of the _yar-savas_ cactus. And then he walked.

On the first night he found that the air was chilled and cold. He sat on the edge of the mountain and knew that he would die soon. A sehlat came to sit beside him, and Spock could see the beast’s great ribs beneath its sallow skin.

Because he would soon die, he shared with the beast half of his bread. The beast ate quickly, wasting not even a crumb, and then seemed much better. Spock believed he would be eaten next, but instead the beast slept beside him that night and warded away the cold. In the daylight the beast left him with one long, golden hair which Spock took.

He walked for five [2] nights and five days until the moon was a thin sliver in the sky. On the sixth day he found the village of the building-makers, which had recently been destroyed. The buildings were burned and the people were gone or dead, save for an old woman who sat on the corner of a blackened structure.

“Your buildings have fallen, Matron,” he said to her.

“The foundation remains. They will again rise.”

Spock found this doubtful, but was respectful of his elder. He said nothing.

“Have you food, child?”

He did, and gave her the last of his bread. He did not give her the fruit because he did not wish to marry her. “I am searching for my life, Matron. Will you guide me?”

She ate the bread, dropping many crumbs onto the ground and wasting a great deal of it. She threw away the rind. [3] “Because you have fed me, I will feed you. Go down the river and you will find the men who took so many lives here. Surely they will know where to find you a spare. Inform them T’pau[4] demands they show you mercy, and they will listen, but only for five-day. On the sixth day you must leave.”

Spock nodded and thanked her. He walked from the broken city and down to the river. He followed it for many kilometers until he came across the river people.

The river people are not like you or I. They are cunning and devious. But Spock, being naive, did not know this. He walked into their camp with no word and soon found himself facing down the sharp edge of a _lirpa._ [5]

Spock told them the words of T’pau and they did show him mercy. A woman with black hair and a sharp, somber face came to him and offered him food and clothing.

“I am T’pring. [6] I will provide for you in your time here.”

“Thank you, maiden, but I require no food and no clothing from you. Only guidance.”

“And what guidance do you seek?”

“I come searching for my life,” Spock said.

“You will not find it here. In time, this land will die. In six days we will travel down the river. Build a boat and join us.”

Spock found this agreeable, but he had no knowledge of boat-making. T’pring gave him guidance in this. He took the blanket his mother had made him and fashioned it into a fine sail. This took him one day. On the second day, he took the lyre [7] his father had made for him and declared he would destroy it to make the body of the boat.

“It is so lovely,” T’pring told him. “Will you not play me one song before it is destroyed?”

Spock found her words to be true, and so he played for her. Time moved more quickly as he played, and soon the second day had passed. On the third day, he again declared he would destroy the instrument, and again T’pring requested one final song. He played for her where the river bent. On the fourth day, he knew he must make haste to destroy the instrument and build the body of the boat, but T’pring was somber and asked him for one final performance. He played for her as she combed her hair and sang with him.

On the fifth day he knew he could delay no longer. He took the instrument in his hands to break it. T’pring came to him and asked that he stay with her.

“You need not destroy it at all. You may travel with me on my boat.”

“T’pring, you know that I love you.”

“Yes.”

“I intend to gift to you the fruit I have brought down from the mountains. It is of my blood, and my body, and I shall give it to you so that we may be wed.”

She inclined her head, for the river peoples’ tradition was the same.

“Would you accept such a gift?”

“Not tonight. Tonight, play for me.”

He obeyed, and played for her under the milky white moon. He played a lullaby which lulled him into a deep sleep, and when he awoke he saw that T’pring was gone and many men had gathered to kill him.

Spock quickly rose and snapped his instrument in his hands. The two halves became a boat, and he raised his sail as the river people chased him with death in their hearts. They wished to kill him, but he made fast his escape. They followed on their boats so closely that he could neither sleep nor rest, but was forced to push on day and night for many leagues. His heart ached from T’pring’s betrayal.

As he sailed, a great wind picked up behind him, and he saw beside the river the shape of a beast. He was surprised to see that it was a sehlat so far from the mountain.

He recognized it as the sehlat which had kept him alive that first, cold night. The beast warded off the ships of the river people, snapping its great fangs until the river ran green. When it had finished, Spock discovered it had left behind a fine golden hair, which he took and placed with the first.

The speed of his ship carried him to the ocean and left him so far from shore that he had no hope of returning. The ship moved fast even when there was no wind, and he could not control its direction. He lay across the bow of his boat and knew that soon he would die. Many nights and days passed like this until the moon rose, fat and full, in the sky, and Spock decided he would not die after all.

Spock cut down the sails of his ship and his mother’s blanket morphed in his hands. He knew now what they were: her wings. He donned them.

The air filled his wings just as it had his sails. Spock flew quite high until he reached the flat disk of the moon. He saw that the moon was weak in the center and so he snapped it with his hands and created a second ship, and with this ship he sailed the stars. [8]

Spock had known loneliness at many times in his life, but never like this. There was only silence there, and he could not even hear his own heartbeat. Spock sailed as far as the wind would take him, feeling a great pull towards a small blue dot in the sky. [9]

When he arrived he saw that the planet was filled with people who had the rounded ears of his mother. [10] Feeling that perhaps he had found his life, he left his ship in the sky and took his wings down. The earth [11] was wet and crumbling under his feet, and everywhere he stepped was into a puddle, which is what the earth-people call a small amount of water to differentiate, for their planet is nearly overflowing with it.

Spock went from port to port in search of his life. In the western port he found a man with golden hair. Seeing that this man was quite happy, he asked if he knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is a good meal,” the man said. He gave to Spock a tall yellow food and Spock took it with thanks, although he did not intend to eat it.

In the eastern port he found a woman with brown skin. Seeing that this woman was at peace, he asked her if she knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is a good song,” the woman said. She gave to Spock a beautiful song and he accepted it with thanks, although he did not intend to sing it.

In the northern port he found a man with brown hair. Seeing that this man was very intelligent, Spock asked him if he knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is knowledge,” the man said. He gave to Spock the secret of that world and Spock accepted it with thanks, although he did not intend to contemplate it.

At the southern port, Spock surrendered his hope. It was nighttime. He had walked for many leagues and found himself in what the earth-people call a woods. The woods are filled with a thing much like the bushes which grow in the desert, but much larger and more intimidating. Their great height blocked the light of Vulcan’s stolen moon from reaching Spock.

Spock had grown hungry after traveling for so long without food. He ate the yellow food [12] the first man had given him, and his limbs grew heavy. He sat and thought that what he needed was a song to liven his spirits. He sang the song the woman had given him and felt his heart grow somber. He lay down and thought that what he needed was meditation to center his mind. He considered the secret the last man had told him and his wings shredded under the sharpness of it. He knew that he would die.

He was in this state when the wolf happened upon him. [13]

He could see that the wolf was sick and hungry, but he no longer had bread. He offered the wolf his fruit, knowing he would soon die anyway and because of that not minding being wedded to an animal. The wolf ate it in two bites. In the first bite it flowed green, as it was the _yar-savas,_ but upon the second bite the fruit became of the _yon-savas_ cactus, flowing red like the blood of earth-people. [14] The wolf sat back on its haunches, howling at the moon that Spock had brought with him.

When Spock awoke the next morning he was surprised to find that he had not died. The wolf had gone, and in its place was a man with sad blue eyes and the same strange round ears that all the people of this world had.

“I am searching for my life,” said Spock.

“Be still,” said the man. “You’re dying.”

The man carried Spock deep into the woods and into a small cabin.The man was a healer and for five days he nursed Spock back to health. On the first night, the man made him drink the water, and Spock accepted it for he knew it was already too late to leave this place. The second night the man took out a spool of healer’s thread and healed one of his broken wings. [15] The third night the man healed his second wing. The fourth night the man healed his heavy limbs. The fifth night the man healed his broken heart.

The man was called Leonard, [16] and he had a sweet voice and a heaviness surrounding him that pained Spock deeply. Leonard often gazed out the window at the waxing moon. For many days Spock tended to his home and cooked him many meals to thank him for his companionship. Spock found in Leonard a kindred spirit, a man also searching for something lost.

On the day the moon was to fill completely Leonard grew agitated. He demanded Spock leave the cabin at once and run to the nearest town. Spock refused, and kissed Leonard instead. He was quite surprised when Leonard became the wolf. Spock enjoyed the pointed ears of his husband, and the wolf did not try to kill him. In the morning Leonard awoke with fear.

“I thought I had killed you,” he said.

“You could never harm anyone,” Spock said.

“I have,” Leonard said quietly. “I have, so many times. I cannot kill again.”

Spock took Leonard into his arms and held him until he no longer cried.

“How may I heal you, as you have healed me?” Spock asked.

“I cannot be healed, except in death. Take me to the woods where you found me and bash my head with a rock and be done with me.”

Spock would not obey his wishes, and so another month passed and again Leonard was stricken by his illness. This time the wolf prowled about the cabin and bared his sharp teeth as Spock sat calmly by.

“You have done me no harm,” Spock said to him in the morning.

“But I shall, I shall. I will surely kill you. Take me to the river where we fetch water and drown me and be done with me.”

Spock would not obey his wishes. Another month passed and Leonard’s illness consumed him. He bit Spock about the arm and Spock cried out in pain. In the morning Spock did not let him see.

“I am well today, Leonard,” Spock said.

“I taste blood in my mouth and know that I have hurt you. I cannot bear to kill you. Strike me down with your own two hands and be rid of me.” And he took out his healer’s thread and healed Spock’s wound.

Spock would not obey his wishes. He considered the problem for some time, knowing that next month Leonard would surely kill him in his bloodfever. He knew that it was the moon that drew forth the wolf from his love. Because he could not bear to kill Leonard, he knew he must instead kill the moon.

He had brought the moon in the first place, and knew it would not be difficult to kill, for the moon had already been broken in two. However, he could not leave the earth after having eaten the food. He meditated for some time until the moon was nearly full in the sky, and then the answer came to him.

He took Leonard out in the night and carefully cut his wings from his body. They were shredded now, and he knew they could not be repaired so well again.

“Take these and fly to the moon and rid yourself of it.”

Leonard cried and took the wings. He kissed Spock many times before donning them. Spock watched him lift into the sky, wings so gossamer and clear that he could see the stars beyond them. Spock watched his life fly away.

He stayed watching, but Leonard did not return.

*

_Ah…_

_I see you are unhappy with such an ending. But I cannot change the facts..._

_No? ...You disagree? And, you ask, what of the golden sehlat hairs? Well...Perhaps, just this once, I will tell you the whole story…_

 

*

On the fifth day, Leonard returned, but if you have listened with attention you will know that he could no more kill the moon than he could kill any living breathing thing.

In fact, his indelible conscience had forced him to heal the damage Spock had done to it when he had fashioned it into a boat. He had lived upon it as the sickness wracked his body, and then he had sewn the great chasm closed with his healer’s thread.

When he returned, he fell against Spock and cried for some time. They were tears of relief. The healing of the moon had another effect: it had cured his terrible illness. He would never again be forced into the shape of a wolf, nor be forced into killing. His tears melted the ragged wings Spock had given him, and they were no more.

Spock took the two golden sehlat hairs and wove them into two golden bands to be worn on the finger, which is the custom of the earth-people. [17] In this way he and Leonard were wedded twice, solidifying their bond so that it may never be broken. Spock and Leonard spent their lives together and Spock found it very agreeable. He did not often miss his home world, although he did give occasion to wonder how we have survived without our moon.

As for the earth-people, they have enjoyed it. They will tell you many stories about it. Some look upon it and see a man in the moon. A special few see the occasional image of a wolf howling, nose upturned in despair. Only two know the truth: it is a crack, now long-since mended, the only evidence that a Vulcan man ever used it to sail across the stars and find his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> —  
> [1] In the original Vulcan the narrator refers to the wings as being _mathra-kahk_ (“like that of a butterfly”). The title of this English translation is therefore an artistic interpretation from the translator.  
>  [2] In Vulcan oral traditions the number five is used frequently. This is known as the “Rule of Five.” Some folklorists believe it is a reference to the five psi-points of the hand. This rule is often juxtaposed with the use of _six_ , indicating discordance. Also note that this myth is unusual as it begins to play with the number three upon Spock’s arrival to the blue planet. Pay close attention to the interplay between the use of _five_ and _three_ throughout this myth.  
> [3] Translator's note: here, we translate the Vulcan word as _rind_ rather than _crust_ (as is common in English) in order to evoke the meaning of the original word _v’tsi_ which shares a root word with _savas_ , meaning “fruit.”  
> [4] T’pau, literally, _Lady Corona_. The name of this character is in reference to a sun or crown, indicating that she was also the queen of this village before it was destroyed. Today, T’pau is a common name for girl children.  
>  [5] A traditional Vulcan killing-weapon. On end is a curve blade and the other is a weighted bludgeoning tool. The fact that Spock faces down the sharp end indicates that the river people are quick to kill rather than subdue.  
> [6] Lit. _lady who assumes acquisition_. T’pring’s name is a hint to the reader of her inner character.  
>  [7] A stringed musical instrument.  
> [8] Like many myths, this one has some basis in fact. Astrophysicists agree that the moon did shatter along a weak fault line running down its center. However, this happened millions of years before intelligent life evolved on Vulcan, and as such this is just a story.  
> [9] There are many Vulcan myths and fables which involve journeying away from home. As far as this translator is aware, this myth is one of only three which reference a fantastical journey to another star system. The others are _World of Solid Burning Water_ which was first transcribed by the poet Suvok, apprentice of T’Evoryn, and _T’kiha’s Journey_ (lit. “Basket Woman’s Journey” in reference to the basket she weaves and uses to travel among the stars) which has no known original author.  
> [10] It is unclear why the narrator references rounded ears throughout this myth. There have never been Vulcanoids with rounded ears.  
> [11] Translator’s note: in the original text the term used was _Ti’solektra_ where the prefix _Ti’_ would usually indicate a proper noun (“planet of dirt”). However, this is clearly an error from the original transcriber. The translator has used the english word _earth_ which is closest in connotation.  
>  [12] It is unclear to this translator what the yellow food is in reference to. Unlike the other foods mentioned by the narrator, this one is not named. It is only described.  
> [13] Lit. _krin-tu,_ a ferocious dog-like animal that is now extinct.  
>  [14] In Vulcan tradition, the _yar-savas_ fruit represents the Vulcan heart. It is a traditional gift exchanged between romantic partners. The transmogrification of the _yar-savas_ into a red fruit may be an indicator that the half of Spock which comes from his mother is still present. It is difficult to say why the narrator chose to color the fruit red, as red is a color of no great significance to Vulcans.  
>  [15] Lit. _og-hakau_ (“stitch healing”). A modern reader might assume this is a reference to the barbaric ritual of sewing shut a wound with a needle and thread. However, this myth was first transcribed hundreds of years before “stitches” became a medical practice on Vulcan, and was part of the oral tradition for far longer than that.  
>  [16] The original transcriber has written this word phonetically (lit. _Lenkam_ ). However, it may be a reference to the word _glenel_ indicating this character is imaginary.  
>  [17] The narrator here appears to have invented this tradition. There is no historical record of any Vulcan sub-group which practiced ring exchange as a betrothal custom. This is evidenced by the fact that the narrator had to stretch to find a word to describe what was happening, finally settling on _kus-tor_ , which is a verb meaning “to encircle.”


	2. No Footnotes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This is the version without footnotes for easier reading. :)

The Tale of the Lunar Moth

 

  
_There are many stories regarding the loss of Vulcan’s moon. If you ask the mountain men they will tell you it was eaten by the starving Sehlat, brother of the stars. If you ask the river people they will tell you it floated down, down and became the Aegean Sea. If you ask the men who build great buildings and think themselves scientists, they will tell you that our moon was torn asunder by the great twin forces of Vulcan and Vega. They will all claim their story is the one true correct one._

_And they will all be wrong.  
_

_I can see already you are doubtful. If so many stories exist, how can mine be known to be true? Carry with me until the end, and you will wish to believe as well. Now sit, and find peace, and listen to my words._

*

The story begins not with the moon-thief, nor even on Vulcan. It begins with a traveler from a distant star.

She was a woman with wings so clear and gossamer that the stars were clearly visible behind them. On her world people feared her wings and were cruel to her for some time, and so she turned her pale face to the sky and took flight, rose higher and higher until she could glide among the stars. But she went unprepared. The stars cut her wings to ribbons and crashed her upon our world. Starving and injured, she lighted upon the flower of the _yar-savas_ and drank its sweet nectar and then, despondent, she lay down to die.

As she lay dying, a mountain man came down. He walked the same path each day and found no fault in it, save for this day when he came across the dying woman. At first, he did not even recognize her as a fellow person. She was frail and small and her long wings confused him, and her ears were wrong and rounded. But he saw a creature in pain and went to aid her.

He lifted her head and attempted to give her water, but she would not take it. He carried her up the mountain and to his home, finding her to weigh almost nothing in his strong arms. Still she would not drink, and when he pressed her she began to cry. Because she had, in her desperation, drunk the nectar of the flower she was now bound to this world. Despite her sorrow the man found her kind and intelligent, and he swore to protect her for as long as he was able.

He nursed her to health and she ate nothing of our world again, but the damage had been done. Upon accepting her fate, and finding the man agreeable and unselfish, she decided to begot him a son. They each reached into the other and removed half of their soul, combining this to create a boy.

They named him Spock.

The woman had grown weak and thin, and died when the child was young. The man grew cold and distant soon after, and no longer was agreeable. He became selfish. Spock, finding this painful, left in search of his life. He brought with him the green blanket his mother had sewn for him as a baby, a bit of bread, an instrument his father had made him as a boy, and the fruit of the _yar-savas_ cactus. And then he walked.

On the first night he found that the air was chilled and cold. He sat on the edge of the mountain and knew that he would die soon. A sehlat came to sit beside him, and Spock could see the beast’s great ribs beneath its sallow skin.

Because he would soon die, he shared with the beast half of his bread. The beast ate quickly, wasting not even a crumb, and then seemed much better. Spock believed he would be eaten next, but instead the beast slept beside him that night and warded away the cold. In the daylight the beast left him with one long, golden hair which Spock took.

He walked for five nights and five days until the moon was a thin sliver in the sky. On the sixth day he found the village of the building-makers, which had recently been destroyed. The buildings were burned and the people were gone or dead, save for an old woman who sat on the corner of a blackened structure.

“Your buildings have fallen, Matron,” he said to her.

“The foundation remains. They will again rise.”

Spock found this doubtful, but was respectful of his elder. He said nothing.

“Have you food, child?”

He did, and gave her the last of his bread. He did not give her the fruit because he did not wish to marry her. “I am searching for my life, Matron. Will you guide me?”

She ate the bread, dropping many crumbs onto the ground and wasting a great deal of it. She threw away the rind. “Because you have fed me, I will feed you. Go down the river and you will find the men who took so many lives here. Surely they will know where to find you a spare. Inform them T’pau demands they show you mercy, and they will listen, but only for five-day. On the sixth day you must leave.”

Spock nodded and thanked her. He walked from the broken city and down to the river. He followed it for many kilometers until he came across the river people.

The river people are not like you or I. They are cunning and devious. But Spock, being naive, did not know this. He walked into their camp with no word and soon found himself facing down the sharp edge of a _lirpa._

Spock told them the words of T’pau and they did show him mercy. A woman with black hair and a sharp, somber face came to him and offered him food and clothing.

“I am T’pring. I will provide for you in your time here.”

“Thank you, maiden, but I require no food and no clothing from you. Only guidance.”

“And what guidance do you seek?”

“I come searching for my life,” Spock said.

“You will not find it here. In time, this land will die. In six days we will travel down the river. Build a boat and join us.”

Spock found this agreeable, but he had no knowledge of boat-making. T’pring gave him guidance in this. He took the blanket his mother had made him and fashioned it into a fine sail. This took him one day. On the second day, he took the lyre his father had made for him and declared he would destroy it to make the body of the boat.

“It is so lovely,” T’pring told him. “Will you not play me one song before it is destroyed?”

Spock found her words to be true, and so he played for her. Time moved more quickly as he played, and soon the second day had passed. On the third day, he again declared he would destroy the instrument, and again T’pring requested one final song. He played for her where the river bent. On the fourth day, he knew he must make haste to destroy the instrument and build the body of the boat, but T’pring was somber and asked him for one final performance. He played for her as she combed her hair and sang with him.

On the fifth day he knew he could delay no longer. He took the instrument in his hands to break it. T’pring came to him and asked that he stay with her.

“You need not destroy it at all. You may travel with me on my boat.”

“T’pring, you know that I love you.”

“Yes.”

“I intend to gift to you the fruit I have brought down from the mountains. It is of my blood, and my body, and I shall give it to you so that we may be wed.”

She inclined her head, for the river peoples’ tradition was the same.

“Would you accept such a gift?”

“Not tonight. Tonight, play for me.”

He obeyed, and played for her under the milky white moon. He played a lullaby which lulled him into a deep sleep, and when he awoke he saw that T’pring was gone and many men had gathered to kill him.

Spock quickly rose and snapped his instrument in his hands. The two halves became a boat, and he raised his sail as the river people chased him with death in their hearts. They wished to kill him, but he made fast his escape. They followed on their boats so closely that he could neither sleep nor rest, but was forced to push on day and night for many leagues. His heart ached from T’pring’s betrayal.

As he sailed, a great wind picked up behind him, and he saw beside the river the shape of a beast. He was surprised to see that it was a sehlat so far from the mountain.

He recognized it as the sehlat which had kept him alive that first, cold night. The beast warded off the ships of the river people, snapping its great fangs until the river ran green. When it had finished, Spock discovered it had left behind a fine golden hair, which he took and placed with the first.

The speed of his ship carried him to the ocean and left him so far from shore that he had no hope of returning. The ship moved fast even when there was no wind, and he could not control its direction. He lay across the bow of his boat and knew that soon he would die. Many nights and days passed like this until the moon rose, fat and full, in the sky, and Spock decided he would not die after all.

Spock cut down the sails of his ship and his mother’s blanket morphed in his hands. He knew now what they were: her wings. He donned them.

The air filled his wings just as it had his sails. Spock flew quite high until he reached the flat disk of the moon. He saw that the moon was weak in the center and so he snapped it with his hands and created a second ship, and with this ship he sailed the stars.

Spock had known loneliness at many times in his life, but never like this. There was only silence there, and he could not even hear his own heartbeat. Spock sailed as far as the wind would take him, feeling a great pull towards a small blue dot in the sky.

When he arrived he saw that the planet was filled with people who had the rounded ears of his mother. Feeling that perhaps he had found his life, he left his ship in the sky and took his wings down. The earth was wet and crumbling under his feet, and everywhere he stepped was into a puddle, which is what the earth-people call a small amount of water to differentiate, for their planet is nearly overflowing with it.

Spock went from port to port in search of his life. In the western port he found a man with golden hair. Seeing that this man was quite happy, he asked if he knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is a good meal,” the man said. He gave to Spock a tall yellow food and Spock took it with thanks, although he did not intend to eat it.

In the eastern port he found a woman with brown skin. Seeing that this woman was at peace, he asked her if she knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is a good song,” the woman said. She gave to Spock a beautiful song and he accepted it with thanks, although he did not intend to sing it.

In the northern port he found a man with brown hair. Seeing that this man was very intelligent, Spock asked him if he knew where to find his life.

“The best thing in life is knowledge,” the man said. He gave to Spock the secret of that world and Spock accepted it with thanks, although he did not intend to contemplate it.

At the southern port, Spock surrendered his hope. It was nighttime. He had walked for many leagues and found himself in what the earth-people call a woods. The woods are filled with a thing much like the bushes which grow in the desert, but much larger and more intimidating. Their great height blocked the light of Vulcan’s stolen moon from reaching Spock.

Spock had grown hungry after traveling for so long without food. He ate the yellow food the first man had given him, and his limbs grew heavy. He sat and thought that what he needed was a song to liven his spirits. He sang the song the woman had given him and felt his heart grow somber. He lay down and thought that what he needed was meditation to center his mind. He considered the secret the last man had told him and his wings shredded under the sharpness of it. He knew that he would die.

He was in this state when the wolf happened upon him.

He could see that the wolf was sick and hungry, but he no longer had bread. He offered the wolf his fruit, knowing he would soon die anyway and because of that not minding being wedded to an animal. The wolf ate it in two bites. In the first bite it flowed green, as it was the _yar-savas,_ but upon the second bite the fruit became of the _yon-savas_ cactus, flowing red like the blood of earth-people. The wolf sat back on its haunches, howling at the moon that Spock had brought with him.

When Spock awoke the next morning he was surprised to find that he had not died. The wolf had gone, and in its place was a man with sad blue eyes and the same strange round ears that all the people of this world had.

“I am searching for my life,” said Spock.

“Be still,” said the man. “You’re dying.”

The man carried Spock deep into the woods and into a small cabin.The man was a healer and for five days he nursed Spock back to health. On the first night, the man made him drink the water, and Spock accepted it for he knew it was already too late to leave this place. The second night the man took out a spool of healer’s thread and healed one of his broken wings. The third night the man healed his second wing. The fourth night the man healed his heavy limbs. The fifth night the man healed his broken heart.

The man was called Leonard, and he had a sweet voice and a heaviness surrounding him that pained Spock deeply. Leonard often gazed out the window at the waxing moon. For many days Spock tended to his home and cooked him many meals to thank him for his companionship. Spock found in Leonard a kindred spirit, a man also searching for something lost.

On the day the moon was to fill completely Leonard grew agitated. He demanded Spock leave the cabin at once and run to the nearest town. Spock refused, and kissed Leonard instead. He was quite surprised when Leonard became the wolf. Spock enjoyed the pointed ears of his husband, and the wolf did not try to kill him. In the morning Leonard awoke with fear.

“I thought I had killed you,” he said.

“You could never harm anyone,” Spock said.

“I have,” Leonard said quietly. “I have, so many times. I cannot kill again.”

Spock took Leonard into his arms and held him until he no longer cried.

“How may I heal you, as you have healed me?” Spock asked.

“I cannot be healed, except in death. Take me to the woods where you found me and bash my head with a rock and be done with me.”

Spock would not obey his wishes, and so another month passed and again Leonard was stricken by his illness. This time the wolf prowled about the cabin and bared his sharp teeth as Spock sat calmly by.

“You have done me no harm,” Spock said to him in the morning.

“But I shall, I shall. I will surely kill you. Take me to the river where we fetch water and drown me and be done with me.”

Spock would not obey his wishes. Another month passed and Leonard’s illness consumed him. He bit Spock about the arm and Spock cried out in pain. In the morning Spock did not let him see.

“I am well today, Leonard,” Spock said.

“I taste blood in my mouth and know that I have hurt you. I cannot bear to kill you. Strike me down with your own two hands and be rid of me.” And he took out his healer’s thread and healed Spock’s wound.

Spock would not obey his wishes. He considered the problem for some time, knowing that next month Leonard would surely kill him in his bloodfever. He knew that it was the moon that drew forth the wolf from his love. Because he could not bear to kill Leonard, he knew he must instead kill the moon.

He had brought the moon in the first place, and knew it would not be difficult to kill, for the moon had already been broken in two. However, he could not leave the earth after having eaten the food. He meditated for some time until the moon was nearly full in the sky, and then the answer came to him.

He took Leonard out in the night and carefully cut his wings from his body. They were shredded now, and he knew they could not be repaired so well again.

“Take these and fly to the moon and rid yourself of it.”

Leonard cried and took the wings. He kissed Spock many times before donning them. Spock watched him lift into the sky, wings so gossamer and clear that he could see the stars beyond them. Spock watched his life fly away.

He stayed watching, but Leonard did not return.

*

_Ah…_

_I see you are unhappy with such an ending. But I cannot change the facts..._

_No? ...You disagree? And, you ask, what of the golden sehlat hairs? Well...Perhaps, just this once, I will tell you the whole story…_

 

*

On the fifth day, Leonard returned, but if you have listened with attention you will know that he could no more kill the moon than he could kill any living breathing thing.

In fact, his indelible conscience had forced him to heal the damage Spock had done to it when he had fashioned it into a boat. He had lived upon it as the sickness wracked his body, and then he had sewn the great chasm closed with his healer’s thread.

When he returned, he fell against Spock and cried for some time. They were tears of relief. The healing of the moon had another effect: it had cured his terrible illness. He would never again be forced into the shape of a wolf, nor be forced into killing. His tears melted the ragged wings Spock had given him, and they were no more.

Spock took the two golden sehlat hairs and wove them into two golden bands to be worn on the finger, which is the custom of the earth-people. In this way he and Leonard were wedded twice, solidifying their bond so that it may never be broken. Spock and Leonard spent their lives together and Spock found it very agreeable. He did not often miss his home world, although he did give occasion to wonder how we have survived without our moon.

As for the earth-people, they have enjoyed it. They will tell you many stories about it. Some look upon it and see a man in the moon. A special few see the occasional image of a wolf howling, nose upturned in despair. Only two know the truth: it is a crack, now long-since mended, the only evidence that a Vulcan man ever used it to sail across the stars and find his life.


End file.
